


Unimaginable

by Redorangeyellowflickerbeat



Series: Companion Pieces to RPs [8]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Guilty Ling, angry Roy, hurt without much comfort, teen death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 11:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redorangeyellowflickerbeat/pseuds/Redorangeyellowflickerbeat
Summary: Roy had no mercy when it came to someone hurting his and Eden's children.





	Unimaginable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asvlm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asvlm/gifts).



> This has been in the works for awhile. Enjoy this - or don't; I revel in your tears.  
> Oh and this features a cisswapped Ed so there's your warning.

Gold eyes narrowed at the ground behind dark sunglasses, one gloved hand resting over a steadily beating heart, feeling the watch that rested there in his breast pocket.  _ I’ll make you proud, mom, and come back a hero. _ The young man thought to himself, jaw squared.

He then moved his hand, raising his eyes as his fingers rubbed together, generating light friction with the rough surface of his gloves. It was time. This war had been going on for too long. Casualties weighed heavily on both sides, too heavy to truly be worth it. But if Amestris retreated any further, they could lose land. Land the country needed to support itself. His job was to end this war. Today. Even if that meant killing the emperor of Xing.

Which, with his never-ending luck, was exactly how he had been tasked to end it.  _ I can do this. _ He thought, steeling his nerves as he entered the building their Intel had said the man was in. True enough, he saw a black ponytail and two dark eyes the minute he stepped inside, then the gleam of a Dao sword.  _ Like Uncle Al… I know how to counter these. You're almost making this too easy. _ He smirked, a bit, and raised a hand to snap. The older man couldn't see the tightness in his eyes as he did the action, and the younger was all the more glad for it.

Suddenly, he was dodging to the side, unable to snap as that sword was headed straight for him -- as fast as lightning, so it seemed.  _ Maybe I thought too soon. _ The younger man thought, readying himself again, not hesitating to snap. It didn't matter, he was knocked off his feet faster than he thought possible. He found himself wrestling the older man, finally getting loose and getting to his feet.  _ I have to end this -- and fast. _ He thought, frantically. There was only one thing that came to mind, and he lifted his hand, his father screaming in his mind to retreat and come back with a different angle instead of trying his foolish stunt. For the first time in his life, he ignored that voice in his mind, snapping.

The resulting explosion filled his eyes with light and sent him a few steps back. That was all the emperor needed to take the upper hand, he suffered burns but pressed forward.

There was a brief moment, where all the young man felt was a light tingle. A sting, really. Then the pain hit. He cried out in pain as that sword pressed into him. It was removed rather suddenly, and he realized his glasses had fallen off in the blast as his gold eyes met shocked dark ones. He toppled, utterly surprised when the man who was his murderer caught him and lowered him to the ground, so gently.

“What… what is your name?” he heard the elder ask, almost sounding distant to his ears.

“Mustang. Tristan Christopher Mustang.” His voice was weak, shaking. He fumbled awkwardly, reaching for his breast pocket. Finally, he unbuttoned it, pulling out the old, battered pocket watch. “Please, give this to my mother. Her name is Eden Mustang… it used to be Elric.” he begged as his vision grew dark. He saw the man nod, and a breath was forced out of his collapsing lungs before his vision went to blackness.

* * *

“What have I done…?” Ling said to himself as tears stung his eyes. This young man -- no,  _ boy _ , was Eden’s child. The flesh and blood of the woman he loved and lost. He scrambled back from the body, hand clutched around the battered watch.  _ I have to get out of here. _ He thought. Quickly he called the order to retreat, before swiftly making his escape.

And just in time, as only minutes after the retreat of the Xingese forces, none other than the Fuhrer arrived at the building. But there was no air of dignity from the moment he saw the young man lying on the ground. “Tristan!” he shouted, running to the dead  _ boy’s _ side. He fell to his knees by the boy, pulling him to his chest. Sobs wracked his body as he wept over the boy… over his son.

Riza Hawkeye was only moments behind, and she had to turn away. She silently ordered the other soldiers to scout the area but leave the grieving father be.

The sun was low in the sky when Roy finally rose, wiping the tears from his face. Other soldiers rushed to gather the body up, as Riza walked up to Roy. “I'm sorry.” she spoke in a lowered voice. He didn't meet her eye as he left the scene, and she didn't expect him to. It was her who had pushed Roy to let the boy do this mission. She had told him he was ready. And now, her error in judgment had cost the life of her oldest friend’s son.

Roy let out a breath as he came to the realization that he had to tell Eden. He wouldn't do it through a letter or let a messenger tell her. He was going to be there, hold her when she inevitably broke. It was all he could think about for the final few days before a messenger came from Xing with a surrender. Or, more accurately, a request for peace negotiations from the emperor. He didn't hesitate to accept the request to negotiate but asked for the meeting to be in a few weeks, in Central.

After that, Roy finally got to go home. He had to take a deep breath before he opened the door, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “Eden, I'm home,” he called, forcing his voice to stay steady.

There was the sound of a rush of movement before his wife appeared in the doorway into the living room. His heart constricted as she smiled at him, so  _ relieved  _ and  _ happy. _ She moved to hug him, to welcome him with a kiss but he stopped her. “Eden, I…” he started to say, then his words caught in his throat.

“Roy, what's wrong?” Eden fretted, but all her words died when his eyes met hers. Hers widened, in disbelief, and his averted to the floor. “Roy, where is Tristan? Why isn't he with you?” her voice cracked. “Tell me he's okay. Please tell me nothing happened!” she was about to cry, and his heart felt like a block of lead in his chest.

He shook his head -- it was all he could do, he couldn't force words out of himself in that moment -- before he pulled her to him, as tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over. He held her as she began to weep, sinking to the floor with her in his arms as he cried with her, both of them mourning the loss of their son.

Neither of them heard the soft footfalls of another child or the soft sound of a blanket dragging on the floor. “Mommy? Daddy? Why cry?” the soft voice of the little girl made Roy look up, as Eden tried -- and failed -- to compose herself. Roy could barely look the girl in the eye.

She wouldn't understand, the three-year-old was too young to comprehend why her big brother wasn't coming home. One day, she would. But for now, she would not. “Eliza, sweetheart…” Roy swallowed, shifting to where he could pull the girl close. “Something has happened… and it's made both of us very upset,” he said shakily. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, before he just stayed there for a moment, holding his daughter and wife close until Eden’s sobs slowed. She was far from done mourning, but she had pulled herself together for now.

Eden pulled away from him to wipe her eyes, releasing a shaky breath before she stood up. Roy watched as she picked up Eliza, holding her close. “Bedtime.” he heard her murmur to the girl, who immediately protested until Eden just gave her a slightly stern look. That made the younger fall silent as Eden carried her away.

Roy watched her until she turned away into the halls before he headed to one of the other rooms of the house. The door across from the nursery was already cracked open, but he was careful to listen for any creaking as he pushed it open.

The room was that of a child’s, painted blue walls and soft carpet on the floor. He noticed a few toys spread around the room and almost smiled. Then his eyes moved to the small bed and the figure underneath. He only stood there long enough to see the child in the bed roll over. “Good night, Maes,” he whispered into the quiet, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Eden cried herself to sleep that night, Roy holding her close, doing what he could to comfort her. He left the bed when she had fallen asleep, tears still on her cheeks. He pressed a kiss to her forehead carefully before he left her side. He couldn't sleep, not now. Not when he had been the one that had let his son go into the field. Not when it was his fault that the boy was dead.

Instead, he went to his office and sat, head in his hands, and cried. Not the way he had when he found Tristan. No, the tears ran down his cheeks in silence.  _ A terrible day for rain… _ he thought to himself with a shaking breath.

The next morning he wiped his eyes and stood up at the sound of small feet running around the house. Maes, his blood son, didn't know that his older brother was dead. Barely ten years old, and already losing his hero. Roy’s stomach turned. He left his office after he forced his expression to not betray his grief. “Maes, son, come here…” he spoke, gaining the boy’s attention.

“Yeah, Dad?” Maes said as he walked over, dark eyes turned upward to his father's face. “Dad?” he added at the silence Roy's hesitancy brought, looking concerned.

“Your brother… he's not… coming home.” Roy looked away from his son's face as he spoke, unprepared for whatever reaction would come.

“W-Wh-What? Tristan’s not… coming home?” the disbelief was obvious, interlaced with dread and horror. “B-but… he… he promised…” the boy’s breath rushed out of him in stutters. “He  _ promised! _ ” the boy cried, fists balled up as tears filled his eyes.

Roy knelt in front of the boy and pulled him close, holding him as the boy buried his face in his father's neck and wept. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, “I'm sorry, Maes.”  _ This is all my fault. _ Roy held his son just a bit tighter at that thought.

The following two weeks contained some of the hardest days of the Mustang family's lives. The country mourned the loss of the Fuhrer’s eldest, to be sure, but nothing could compare to the way the family took the loss. After a few days, even little Eliza realized her ‘big brudda’ wasn't coming home, even though she didn't understand why.

Maes took it harder, often clinging to his mother and muffling his sobs while she held him so tightly that it nearly hurt. Eden, of course, took it the hardest, balancing between being completely numb and breaking down.

Finally, the time came for the peace negotiations. Roy could barely meet his own eyes in the mirror that morning, while he was making sure he didn’t look anything less than presentable. When he slicked back his hair, he finally looked at his own face. He looked tired, unsurprisingly. The beginnings of wrinkles that he was getting were seeming to be showing a bit stronger than they normally did. He heaved a sigh, straightened his coat, and headed out.

“Sir, he wants the meeting to be in private. No guards on either side.” Riza informed when she joined him on the way to the room where the negotiations were to occur. 

Roy just nodded, having expected this. “That’s fine. As long as he’s unarmed I’ll have the upper hand if something happens.” He hated to think that the relations between Amestris and Xing had grown so strained that he couldn’t be sure that one of those that fought in the Promised Day would try to kill him, but here he was having to face that reality.

Opening the door to the room found it empty other than where Ling stood at the other end of it. Roy closed the door as he entered. “Emperor Ling Yao,” he said formally, as he took a few steps away from the door and into the room.

“Fuhrer Roy Mustang,” Ling replies, turning toward him. He takes something out of his pocket, an old tarnished silver watch. Roy’s eyes widen as it’s tossed to him. “I’ll pull my troops from the desert. It’ll be neutral ground again. Just… Tell Eden I’m sorry. If I had known who that boy was I would never have -” he was cut off by Roy’s hand suddenly clamping down around his throat when he all but rushed forward, eyes dark.

“ _ You _ killed Tristan?” He squeezed harder at Ling’s gasp. He didn’t move his hand, even when Ling’s hands clawed at him trying to get him to let go. He only released the other when Ling began to turn blue. Ling collapsed against the wall trying to catch his breath. Roy just glared down at him. “He carried your DNA. But he was my  _ son _ ,” he growled, his voice darker than he ever remembered it being. “Keep your troops out of my country. Or I won’t be so  _ merciful _ .” he turned and walked out, leaving Ling still pressed against the wall.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave reviews, I'd love to know how much I made you cry today. Or what would have made you cry, if you didn't.


End file.
